What is Knowledge?

Arjuna asked Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (Ch.13 opening), “What is knowledge?” And Krishna replied, “Knowledge is to know the field and the knower of the field.”*

Knower of the field is the Self, pure consciousness. We become the knower in Self Realization. However, at that point, we often see the world – the body and environment – as separate. We do not yet know the field.

Living in this stage, we see the body acting and the world unfolding without our volition. We are the observer. If there is enough sattva, we are drawn to inquire about this experience. Who or what then is doing? If I am universal consciousness, what then is the world?

Through this natural process of uncontrived inquiry and refinement, we gradually unfold knowledge of the field. This process is unique for each person as it depends on dominant sense, laws of nature, inclinations, and so forth.

This is also due to the field itself adapting to the expectations of the knower of it. I call this personalization. Our attention and intention unfold flavours of the infinite.

This stage is known as God Consciousness. Because sattva is a little less developed in the current times, it’s a process that can take a little longer to kick in for some so may not fully unfold until later. Especially if we have any resistance to world appearance having any value.

But as consciousness continues to unfold to itself here, we come to discover the same Self within is also in the world. I associate this with the releasing of the core identity at the gut, similar to Adyashanti. With the end of that “grip”, the sense of inside and outside falls away and we recognize all is one. This shift is known as Unity Consciousness.

That recognition then gradually spreads out through all the layers of perception, memory and experience, progressively uniting everything in direct experience. The intellect which had formally been looking out and dividing turns within and unites.

There is also a progression here into recognizing ourselves as cosmic – not just in consciousness, but our mind, emotions, and body. There is only one of us here.

This is the process of knowing the field. And with it comes the “inner guru”. Experiences come with their own understanding as long as we don’t have notions that interfere.

This is the process of discovering real knowledge. Knowledge about who we are and the nature of the world.
Davidya

* not sure whose translation this is. I compared it to a few I have, and it’s accurate and clearer than some.